Indiana
Pacers players Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner plus coach Rick Carlisle discuss Indiana Fever, Caitlin Clark season
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark are the talk of the town in Indianapolis, and that extends to the NBA team they share an area with.
The Indiana Pacers also call Gainbridge Fieldhouse home. Both teams showed tremendous growth in 2024 — the Pacers reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a decade while the Fever earned a postseason spot — somewhere they haven’t been since 2016. Basketball is ascending in the Circle City.
Both groups support each other. Many Fever players attended Pacers playoff games in the spring, and several Pacers players were courtside for Fever action in the fall. Clark was on her Rookie of the Year run with the likes of Tyrese Haliburton, Obi Toppin, Aaron Nesmith, Rick Carlisle, and Myles Turner watching.
Last week, Clark and the Fever were eliminated from the playoffs. They fell 0-2 to the Connecticut Sun, and Game 2 came down to the wire. Their season ended earlier than they hoped.
Now, it’s time for the Pacers to take center stage. With the blue and gold holding media day on Monday, some members of the team shared their thoughts on the Fever’s season and success.
“What the Fever did this year, that was incredible. As someone who’s been going to Fever games for the past 10 years now, just the environment that was in there, the new life that was in there, was incredible,” Turner said. “And something that’s only going to grow. For a team that wasn’t even in contention for the playoffs to come through and get to that first round and have that experience with three younger players was fun to watch.”
The Fever went 20-20 — they won 30 games the prior four seasons combined. They are on a massive upward trajectory and have the foundation set for a long era of sustained success.
Haliburton went to roughly half of the Fever’s home games this season. He’s seen Clark and company up close often. “I went to a ton because I just love hoop. To see the explosion of Women’s Basketball for a big piece of that… was really cool to see. I went to as many games as I could,” Haliburton shared. He noted that through Connnor McCaffery, a former Pacers assistant who is now at Butler and dates Clark, he grew closer to the Fever’s star. They have a group text together. “It’s been really cool to see her growth this last year, and the Fever as a whole… It’s unfortunate that they lost, but they’re a young group. They’ll be back.”
Tyrese Haliburton congratulates Caitlin Clark after she dropped her second career triple-double in the @IndianaFever‘s win tonight 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ve6Lmk6Nnr
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) September 5, 2024
Carlisle was asked about Clark and the Fever during a recent interview with Steve Aschburner of NBA.com. “I’m a big fan,” he said of the team. “Every arena they go into is an energized happening. It’s really cool.”
He added more on Clark. “Tyrese [Haliburton] always is (courtside at Fever home games). She’s come to some of ours. She’s been a great ambassador for our city,” Carlisle said. “Caitlin has had a great year. Angel Reese [had] a great year. You can make a case that them coming into the WNBA is a little like Bird and Magic coming in in 1979. The NBA took off with those guys entering the league the way the WNBA is taking off with those two players.”
More on the Fever can be found here.
Indiana basketball practice observations from June 25: Freshmen mixing in
IU has a game-changer, Thursday’s practice open to the media showed. IndyStar IU insider Zach Osterman explains what he saw.
BLOOMINGTON — Whatever he can.
That’s the answer. The question — one prompted by an urgency to add strength to his game — is what Vaughn Karvala, Indiana basketball’s athletic freshman wing, is doing to add weight. IU’s highest-ranked signee in the 2026 class, it’s not hard to envision a role for Karvala in Darian DeVries’ second season in Bloomington. The player himself knows that starts with meeting the physical demands of the college game.
Which starts with building onto to his 6-foot-7, 190-pound frame.
“The biggest thing for me is just putting on weight,” Karvala told reporters after practice Thursday. “That’s my biggest thing, getting stronger, trying to play with these guys that are three, four years older than me. I have to get stronger, I have to get faster, everything.”
A three-year letter winner at Oregon (Wisconsin) High School, Karvala spent his senior season at Bella Vista Prep in Arizona, bolstering a profile that saw him ranked No. 62 nationally per the 247Sports Composite.
Karvala averaged 26.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in his final season with Oregon, shooting close to 42% from behind the 3-point line. He averaged another 14.7 points per game with Team Herro on the EYBL circuit.
He handed DeVries a major recruiting win last fall, when Karvala picked the Hoosiers over Xavier and Cal. Now, both at the rim and behind the arc, Karvala looks like a player who can contribute meaningfully in his first year in college.
“I know my athleticism catches the eye, but I can still shoot it,” Karvala said. “But another thing is just working on rebounding, trying to get extra possessions for us.”
Whether on the glass or elsewhere, embracing the physical challenge of college basketball has been an emphasis for Karvala since he arrived in Bloomington earlier this summer.
That manifests itself offensively, when he tries to push the ball downhill and leverage that athleticism to attack the rim. It shows up defensively, where Karvala said he’s comfortable guarding the two, the three and, matchup depending, the four.
It even plays out on the glass, battling bigs up to including 7-2 teammate Samet Yigitoglu, who Karvala described with a smile as “the biggest guy I’ve ever seen.”
“Physicality, 100%,” Karvala said, when asked where he’s challenging himself. “Just playing with all these guys that have 20, 30, 40 pounds on me.”
Which starts with the physical demand of more weight. Karvala said he’ll eat chicken, steak or “whatever we have in the locker room” that can help him in that effort. His focus, he said, is simply to “eat a lot, and work out every day.”
As that weight and strength begin to build, Karvala knows the next step — to mentally prepare for the rough-and-tumble nature of life on the floor in the Big Ten — is just as important. Preparing his body comes first. Challenging himself to toughen up once it’s required follows quickly after.
“Just getting fully there, mentally,” he said. “You’re going to have to push your body to get through this.”
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KOSCIUSKO COUNTY, Ind. (WSBT) — It’s fair season and a new law uncorks adult beverage sales!
The new Indiana law will go into effect July 1st, making it legal to sell alcohol at county fairs.
The Kosciusko County Fair is set to kick off in just a few weeks and Indiana is officially allowing alcohol to be sold.
The law is bringing back something that’s not necessarily new to this fair.
Here’s what you need to know
The new law will go into effect on July 1st. It officially allows county fairs to apply for fee-free permits to sell alcohol.
Officials with the Kosciusko County Fair say they are participating this year. They are implementing the same guidelines they used when they sold alcohol just at grandstand events.
The difference now is, you can walk around the grounds with your drink. But strict guidelines will be in place for purchasing a drink.
“Actually, we’ve never had any issues. Because we card everybody, so we take that seriously. We also got the ID guides so we can identify the different types of IDs,” said Sheal Dirck, Treasurer of Kosciusko County Fair.
The Kosciusko County Fair already have guidelines in place, so this was an easy transition for the fair.
They will be the only vendors selling alcohol, which will make it easier to control distribution.
The sales will also bring in more revenue.
“Hopefully it allows to keep our ticket prices where they are because right now, insurance, utilities and everything else is going sky high and it’s hard to make ends meet,” said Dirck.
However, some fairs cannot participate because of the July 1st start date, like the Pulaski County Fair, which is going on right now. Pulaski County officials said it is on the agenda for next year. Whereas other fairs are choosing to sit this year out.
“We wanted not spend some time to, to see what that really means for us. It was not a decision we wanted to rush into. But we are happy for the option of it,” said Shelly Steury, GM of Elkhart County 4H Fairgrounds.
Leaders at the St. Joseph County and Elkhart County Fairs said neither of them are selling alcohol.
The Kosciusko County Fair is the only fair that will sell alcohol in our area this year.
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